This invention relates to alarm clocks and, more specifically, to an alarm clock incorporating audio recording capability to serve as an appointment calendar for the user.
Digital clock circuits with digitally set alarms are well known in the prior art. These devices typically include a digital clock read-out and a mechanism for setting a particular time of day at which an audible alarm is sounded by the electronic apparatus to awake an individual on a daily basis. Furthermore, clock radios are well known in the prior art, these devices generally substituting the operation of a radio for a normal alarm signal. In addition, timing circuits have been used to enable a variety of devices, and have been used, for example, to operate a tape recorder at a specific time of day. None of these prior art devices, however, permits a user to prerecord messages at different times and to designate the date on which the message is to be played back, so that the alarm system may be used, in addition, as an appointment calendar. It is, of course, well known for people to use a calendar which provides sufficient space to record in writing appointments, etc. Such a system is often inconvenient to use, and does not assure the user that he will be reminded on the appointment date of his schedule.